Dhaka real estate boom amid high property prices

The real estate sector is booming with a rebound in sales in the last one year, ending a two-year sluggish trend and reawakening the market.

Although a stable political and economic environment will help boost sales of apartments, commercial spaces and offices and plots in the future, unusual hike in property prices might affect apartment sales.

Market watchers state that real estate has seen a real boom in the last six months, causing property prices to escalate by up to 50 percent in the last year.

According to available reports, the land prices increased by 25 times and the apartment prices were ten times higher during the last 15 years, making Dhaka’s real estate the most costly in the region after Mumbai and Delhi.

Real estate companies are now looking for more housing projects outside Dhaka, as the soaring land prices and its scarcity in the capital have lead to apartments being beyond the purchasing capacity of many potential clients. Realtors have recently engaged in projects in different areas surrounding Dhaka, including: Naravangani, Comilla, Gazipur, and Mymensingh, to provide flats at affordable prices.

Those places are fairly close to the capital, many customers now prefer to find a permanent housing in those places due to the price advantage. Apartment prices outside Dhaka range from Tk 2, 000 (840 Baht) to Tk 3, 000 (1,260 Baht) per square foot, while not less than Tk 3,500 (1, 470 Baht) in the capital itself.

Staying outside the capital is now more convenient with mobile internet accessibility through cellular technology. The sector people now also want the government to make a good transportation link between Dhaka and the surrounding areas.

Additionally, the government wants to develop major housing projects outside Dhaka to reduce the pressure in the overpopulated city. The government plans to build four satellite townships on the outskirts of the capital as well as develop 22,800 plots and construct 26,000 apartments in the three years.